Originally Posted by
Biker395
lol ... it just sounded soo familiar. My friend was ridiculously healthy and disciplined. And he only discovered the problem in a pre-op physical exam for a shoulder issue, and then realized he had symptoms that went ignored or undiagnosed for a long time. Fact is, the shoulder issue may have saved his life.
The good news is that the surgery was fairly routine and simple, and fixed his problem well. You'll be back on the bike in no time! Yea baby.
I was born with a VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect). A/K/A a hole between my ventricles. That caused my septum to sag, resulting in minor aortic valve "leakage." It was detected right away. I was told that when I was 30 or 35 I would likely have to have surgery because, as time goes by, the sagging usually becomes worse, causing the leakage to become worse. That time came when I was 25, likely because of all the riding. I was in prime shape. What irony.
In any event, when they opened me up to patch the ventricular hole and give me an artificial heart valve they found a tiny hole between my atria that had never been detected. It was so small that no patch was needed. Surgeon simply sewed it closed. Pretty interesting that it was never detected. My conditions was one that demonstrated the abilities of ultrasound machines quite well. So for a couple of years in college I was a demonstration subject at mini-trade shows. I would lie on a table for two hours while techs from the different machine manufacturers demonstrated their machines' capabilities. My chest would end up coated in that gel, but $25/hr. was good money for a college student back in the mid-80s.
Despite receiving the equivalent of dozens of ultrasound procedures, no on ever detected the atrial hole. I also had three cardiac caths (ages 6, 12 and 25) that never revealed it.